Annual county fair offers many reasons to discover happiness

Lee Jessup

Published: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 12:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, September 9, 2013 at 2:28 p.m.

OK, boys and girls, with apologies to Neil Diamond, and to my late great friend Benjamin Gibbs "The Beno" Philpott (for quoting Diamond): "Pack up the babies, and grab the old ladies; everyone goes, 'cause everyone knows …"

That's right friends and neighbors, in less than a week the Davidson County Agricultural Fair will be upon us. Lights will be flashing, country ham and Polish sausages will be cooking, fireworks will be blasting, cows will be mooing, and the youngsters will be smiling — what a great time it is. There's nothing quite like fair week in Davidson County.

In honor of this auspicious occasion, the old Doctor has returned to The Dispatch in order to present an aptly titled submission, "The Top Ten Things I Love About The Davidson County Fair."

There are many reasons to attend the fair, but the best one of course is that the Kiwanis Club uses the proceeds to run Kamp Kiwanis out on Ridge Road for three weeks every summer, allowing children to attend a week of camp who might otherwise never receive the opportunity to do that.

Goodness knows, if you are a county fair aficionado like I am, you can make your own list. But it's my column, so I get to make the list. Here goes: 10 things that make me happy during Davidson County Agricultural Fair Week:

10. Watching the children ride all the rides: There is something nearly mystical about watching children on merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels and miniature helicopters that go up-and-down. It sort of allows you to be a child again, even if rides now cause you to turn green and lob lunch.

9. Observing children and old people walk through the cattle barn and animal stalls. Many people between the ages of 13-50 are too jaded or too busy to stroll past farm animals, but children and old people, who are easily entertained, love this stuff. I do, too, even the smells. We live in an antiseptic world that has rid the world of all the great scents, including farm scents.

8. Watching a young 'un win his or her first stuffed animal by putting a quarter on the winning color at Fat Albert's Rat Game.

7. Watching Kiwanians James A. Nance, Col. C.C. Ripple and J.Z. "Meat" Horne devour a country ham sandwich on opening night. Sinkholes in Florida wish they could swallow junk this fast. Participants at the Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island wish they had these skills.

6. Watching Kiwanian and Parking Capt. Roger "Jake Blues" Tripp risk his life, his honor and his good hair directing traffic on Senior Citizens Day at the fair. Even Lloyd's of London won't insure Tripp's life on this day. As Tripp remarked last year, "You haven't really lived until you've tried telling 3,500 senior citizens that all parking spaces are handicapped spaces as far as the eye can see."

5. Watching Fair Manager and Kiwanian Vinnon Williams arrive at "The Moment." It happens every year. God bless him, Vinnon has to answer about 500 questions a day at the fair, arrives early, leaves late, and it's a tremendous job for any man. But, inevitably, something will happen during the course of the week, and Vinnon, along with every other Kiwanian, civic club food stand volunteer and exhibit hall volunteer will know, "This is why I work at the fair." You'll never know when "The Moment" will arrive, but it always does.

4. Eating that first piece of fudge from Gary's Fudge Booth. Nothing like it anywhere.

3. Watching Kiwanians, law enforcement officers, rescue squad personnel and others turn off the office lights and for 20 minutes stop everything, and as mentioned before, become a child again — by watching another fantastic fireworks display.

2. Doing Davidson County's version of "The Stroll" — wandering around the fairgrounds, enjoying the Miss Davidson County Beauty Pageant with Emcee Irvin "The Dog" Sink, viewing the Kimberly-Clark Diaper Derby on Friday night, checking out all the displays in the exhibit hall, listening to the bands on the stage, sampling absolutely everything at the food booths and seeing old friends you haven't seen in a while.

And the Number One thing I love about the Davidson County Agricultural Fair: Having one or all of the granddaughters say, "Paw Paw, will you buy us a candy apple and some cotton candy?"

You know I will, honey, you know I will.

Lee Jessup is president of the United Way of Davidson County.

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